Smart spacing allocation

• US 10,032,378 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2017
• Issued: 07/24/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Slingshot IOT LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Rudranil D., Lahiri, Kaushik
• Primary Examiner(s): Trieu, Van
• Application Number:
  US15/407,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20170124875A1
• Time in Patent Office: 553 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/145 where the indication depends on the parking areas
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/146 where the parking area is a limited parking space, e.g. parking garage, restricted space
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/149 coupled to means for restricting the access to the parking space, e.g. authorization, access barriers, indicative lights
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/168 Driving aids for parking, e.g. acoustic or visual feedback on parking space

Abstract

A method, system and computer program product for allocating parking spaces for vehicles in a parking area. In one embodiment, the invention provides a system comprising a sensor system for generating output representing measurements of vehicles in the parking area, a marking system for identifying parking spaces in the parking area, and a controller for calculating parking spaces for vehicles. The controller obtains defined measurements for the vehicles in the parking area, and calculates for each of the vehicles, a respective one parking space in the parking area. Embodiments of the invention dynamically allocate parking spaces based on: (1) Determining the minimum space that should be enough for the size of the car that is being currently identified for parking; and (2) Maximizing utilization of space by preventing improper fragmentation, where because of allocating fixed size spaces to all cars, big/small/medium, fragments of space would be wasted.

Claims

1. A method of determining a size and a location for a parking space for a vehicle in a parking lot, the method comprising:

measuring specified dimensional information about an identified vehicle;

using the measured specified dimensional information to determine positional information within the parking lot for the identified vehicle;

forming markings in the parking lot to mark a parking space in the parking lot for the identified vehicle;

identifying a buffer zone extending around the parking space, wherein the parking space is inside the buffer zone;

generating an alarm signal when the identified vehicle enters the buffer zone to alert a driver of the vehicle when the vehicle enters the buffer zone;

keeping the alarm signal generated until the vehicle is inside the buffer zone;

terminating the alarm signal when the identified vehicle is completely inside the buffer zone; and

removing said markings after the identified vehicle leaves the parking space.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the buffer zone has a border; and

the terminating the alarm signal includes terminating the alarm signal when the identified vehicle is completely inside the buffer zone with no part of the identified vehicle crossing the border of the buffer zone.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

the generating an alarm signal includes ringing an alarm once the identified vehicle approaches the buffer zone; and

the alarm keeps ringing until the identified vehicle is totally inside the buffer zone.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the alarm signal is an audible alarm.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein sensors are located in the parking lot, and the generating an alarm signal includes the sensors triggering the alarm signal when the identified vehicle approaches the parking space.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the measuring specified dimensional information about an identified vehicle includes measuring the specified dimensional information when the identified vehicle enters the parking lot.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the forming markings to mark a parking space includes using lasers on a ceiling of the parking lot to draw lines to mark the parking space.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising using a map guidance to guide the identified vehicle to the parking space.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the using the measured specified dimensional information includes using the measured specified dimensional information to determine a size and a position for the parking space in the parking lot.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the using the measured specified dimensional information includes determining a defined minimum size for the identified vehicle.

11. A system for determining a size and a location for a parking space for a vehicle in a parking lot, the system comprising:

a sensor system for generating output representing measured specified dimensional information about an identified vehicle;

a controller including one or more processor units for receiving the output from the sensor system, for using said output to determine positional information within the parking lot for the identified vehicle;

a marking system for forming markings in the parking lot to mark a parking space in the parking lot for the identified vehicle, and for identifying a buffer zone extending around the parking space, and wherein the parking space is inside the buffer zone; and

an alarm system for generating an alarm signal when the identified vehicle enters the buffer zone to alert a driver of the vehicle when the vehicle enters the buffer zone, for keeping the alarm signal generated until the vehicle is inside the buffer zone, and for terminating the alarm signal when the identified vehicle is completely inside the buffer zone; and

wherein the marking system removes said markings after the identified vehicle leaves the parking space.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the buffer zone has a boundary, and the alarm system terminates the alarm signal when the identified vehicle is completely inside the buffer zone with no part of the vehicle crossing the border of the buffer zone.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the alarm system rings an alarm once the vehicle approaches the buffer zone and keeps ringing the alarm until the vehicle is totally inside the buffer zone.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the alarm signal is an audible alarm.

15. The system according to claim 11, wherein the alarm system includes a plurality of sensors located in the parking lot for triggering the alarm signal when the identified vehicle approaches the parking space.

16. An article of manufacture, comprising:

at least one tangible computer readable medium having computer readable program code logic to execute machine instructions in one or more processing units for determining a size and a location for a parking space for a vehicle in a parking lot, said computer readable program code logic, when executing, performing the following;

receiving specified dimensional information about an identified vehicle;

using the specified dimensional information to determine positional information within the parking lot for the identified vehicle;

forming markings in the parking lot to mark a parking space in the parking lot for the identified vehicle;

identifying a buffer zone extending around the parking space, and wherein the parking space is inside the buffer zone;

generating an alarm signal when the identified vehicle enters the buffer zone to alert a driver of the vehicle when the vehicle enters the buffer zone;

keeping the alarm signal generated until the vehicle is inside the buffer zone;

terminating the alarm signal when the identified vehicle is completely inside the buffer space; and

removing said markings after the identified vehicle leaves the parking space.

17. The article of manufacture according to claim 16, wherein:

the buffer zone has a border; and

the terminating the alarm signal includes terminating the alarm signal when the identified vehicle is completely inside the buffer zone with no part of the identified vehicle crossing the border of the buffer zone.

18. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, wherein:

the generating an alarm signal includes ringing an alarm once the identified vehicle approaches the buffer zone; and

the alarm keeps ringing until the identified vehicle is totally inside the buffer zone.

19. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, wherein the alarm signal is an audible alarm.

20. The article of manufacture according to claim 19, wherein sensors are located in the parking lot, and the generating an alarm signal includes the sensors triggering the alarm signal when the identified vehicle approaches the parking space.